R(uby)63 Rose
by TheMagicHoboTMH
Summary: Ruby Rose is an aspiring huntsman who wants nothing more than to beat baddies, consume cookies, and obsess over Crescent Rose, but between lessons, teammates, criminals, terrorists, hormones, and Yang's dreaded puns he has his work cut out for him! But it'll take more than all that to bring down the manliest huntsman-in-training at Beacon Academy, even if he has a girl's name.
1. Chapter 1: A Rose by Any Other Gender

Ruby Rose strolled easily down the streets of Vale. Normal people would rarely be out at this hour in this part of Vale City, and if they were out they'd certainly be keeping an eye over their shoulder and walking with definite purpose, not meandering down the street like Ruby Rose, but Ruby Rose was no ordinary person. Ruby Rose was awesome, badass, and super, _super cool_! And he was most definitely a guy! So what if most people named Ruby were girls? He had more than enough masculinity to even it out! Ruby's hand itched to slap Yang as soon as he thought that, despite the facts he was alone and he hadn't said anything out loud, he was still conditioned to attack his big sister because she would normally be snickering at this point in her teasing.

Ruby sighed and shook his head, pushing out the very well defined mental image of Yang laughing at him. What kind of name was Yang anyway? That sounded at least as masculine as Ruby did feminine! WAIT! NO! Ruby isn't a feminine name! Dammit Yang!

Ruby reached behind him and under his flowing red cloak to bring out Crescent Rose in her compact form. Crescent Rose never judged him, she was far too sweet! She was also at least ten thousand times cooler than any other weapon on Remnant. A small blush came to Ruby's face as he realized he had subconsciously brought Crescent Rose up to his chest and was hugging and caressing it like Yang did her hair. A quick look around confirmed no one was around to see the display of affection and Ruby gave a small sigh before tenderly kissing Crescent Rose and holstering her again.

A quick glance at the time on his scroll increased Ruby's pace as he realized he was starting to run late, he only had an hour to get to the Dust shop and back to the ferry station. Any longer than that and Yang would get concerned, and then she would call, and then she would make him feel guilty, and then if she didn't think he sounded guilty enough she'd tell mom, and then mom would cut back on his cookie allowance, and there was nothing more frightening to Ruby Rose than missing out on Summer Rose's cookies, except for anything happening to Crescent Rose. Crescent Rose was more important than cookies, and that was saying something coming from Ruby Rose.

With a smile Ruby Rose realized he had arrived at the doorstep of "From Dust Till Dawn," one of the best Dust shops in all of Vale. Ruby would know, he'd tried them all. He pushed through the door and smiled and waved at the kind old man behind the counter, he'd probably been working here since the Great War! Ruby moved to peruse the Dust on display. He needed a couple dozen vials of Mistrali Fire, several ounces of Grimm-Slayer™ brand Electric, and a few pellets of Wetworld Special for his own secret project that neither Yang nor Summer needed to know about. It still wasn't his fault he flooded the entire first floor, that was a freak accident.

Ruby looked over the collection of extremely volatile and dangerous Dust in his hands and smiled fondly as he imagined all the stuff he would blow up with it. He dropped his selections off at the counter for the old man to ring up and then went back to the magazine stand at the back of the shop, it would take the guy a while to properly secure the Dust, so Ruby could help himself to a little guilty pleasure reading.

A selection of publications greeted him, from tabloids exclaiming a Grimm had made it onto the Kingdom Council, to lifestyle magazine proclaiming that sprinkling low-grade fire Dust on granola bars was the best way to get pumped up for burning off those extra calories. What really caught Ruby's silver eyes was hidden a little farther down. A naughty smile sprouted on the teenage boy's face as he reached for a magazine promising "Girls! Girls! Girls! What the Beauties of Vale do to pass the lonely nights!" and reached right past it to grab "Weapons Weekly: 101 Things About Dust The SDC Don't Want You To Know!" Ruby idly petted Crescent Rose as his heart beat wildly in his chest, _Oh baby, I_ _'m going to put all sorts of things in you! These new Dust rounds are going to be so sexy!_

The time sped by almost as fast Ruby Rose using his semblance, and just because he could turn into rose petals didn't mean anything! Flowers could be masculine! And he was startled when a hand shook him by the shoulder, he was even more surprised to realize he'd somehow put on his headphones and was listening to his favorite Weiss Schnee album. Oh! The man was shaking Ruby's shoulder to get his attention, Ruby took off his headphones, "Yes?"

The man, who was wielding a ridiculous red sword, said "I said put your hands in the air, now!"

Without conscious effort Ruby had already evaluated the threat the man posed, many thousands of hours of practice and sparring classifying him as nearly harmless to him, even without Crescent Rose. This was going to be awesome! He could be just like the heroes from the books, stopping this criminal and saving the old man! A lot of those heroes had badass one-liners though. Quick! He had to think of something! "Careful where you put your hands, this Rose has thorns!" And then Ruby punched the mugger in the gut, following it up by delivering a solid kick to the man's face as he doubled over, sending him flying across the shop.

Another thug took notice of this and raised a gun at Ruby, this was going to be too easy! Ruby activated his semblance and in a burst of rose petals he flew at superfloral speed at the criminal. Crashing through the storefront window Ruby had only one thought, _I_ _'m a frickin' badass!_ Looking over his shoulder Ruby noticed several more nameless thugs staring at him through the broken window, a dapper orange-haired was stood behind them, scowling at him without any trace of the fear the other robbers displayed. _I need to keep up my image! Ooooh! Maybe they_ _'ll make a comic about me, I'd be the best comic book hero ever! The Cookie Crusader!_

Sweet thoughts of pastry justice ran through Ruby's head as he drew Crescent Rose, the weapon elegantly shifting from its compact form to its full scythe form. Ruby brought what he thought was a smug smirk to his face, though it looked more like the smile a small child had opening a gift. He twirled Crescent Rose around and brought its main blade down into the concrete. He also remembered to turn off his headphones, that thing ran through batteries faster than he ran crooks through windows!

"Oooooooooo-kaaaaaaay…" The orange-haired man tilted his head in mild confusion before looking at his henchmen in agitation, "Get him!"

The thugs immediately complied, rushing out the main entrance, guns and blades drawn. Ruby could tell none of them had ever used their weapons on anyone more dangerous that a little old lady with pepper spray. _Maybe I should add pepper spray to Crescent Rose? No! Focus!_

The first thug swung at Ruby with an over-sized meat cleaver, his aim was sloppy and the swing was so slow Ruby thought he could have sidestepped it with no difficulty, but he didn't sidestep it. Instead he effortlessly pulled Crescent Rose out of the concrete and swung it upwards, catching the criminal on the top of Crescent Rose and lifting him up and behind him, he fired as the criminal passed above his head, sending the thug flying down the road and simultaneously launching Ruby at the next combatant.

This thug had the presence of mind to raise his gun at the quickly approaching teenager; no doubt intent on letting off a shot that Ruby would have no hope of dodging. What he didn't expect was for Ruby to bring Crescent Rose around from its position trailing behind him clutched in his left hand, reaching his right hand back to grab it and bring it around his right side, swinging it into the side of the thug and sending his body skipping down the road like a stone skipping across a pond.

The final thug came rushing at Ruby from behind, but his lightning fast reflexes caught the sound of the sword being swung. Ruby jumped, the blade cutting through empty air that had a moment ago been occupied by Ruby's waist. Ruby simply let the momentum of Crescent Rose carry him around in a circle, the inner edge of the main blade caught the assailant on his back and with a quick pull of the trigger he went flying backwards, or forwards from his perspective, while Ruby expertly twirled the weapon around him, killing its momentum and preventing him from following the criminal backwards. He landed softly, cape flowing behind him and Crescent Rose held in one hand, standing proudly by his side.

The dapper leader of the criminals stepped calmly past the unconscious body of one of his henchmen, dropping his cigar and crushing it underfoot while he twirled his cane in one hand, the other hand gestured at the battlefield around them, "Quite the mess you've made of my night, Red. I don't suppose a girl like you is for hire?"

Ruby Rose was so offended by this casual assault on his manhood that he deeply and furiously roared, and most certainly did not have his voice break and screech, "I'm a guy!" He also did not hear his mental image of Yang fall onto the ground laughing uproariously. This was not how the heroes in the stories were treated!

The criminal leader, for his part, leaned towards Ruby, eyes squinting to focus on him, "You sure kid? You're not like one of those transsexuals or something?"

"Yes I'm sure! I'm Ruby Rose! Certified badass and defender of the streets of Vale! Criminals like you will soon cower in fear when my, very manly, name is spoken and-" Ruby was cut out of his mirror rehearsed speech by a loud cough from the criminal across from him.

"Yeah that's great little lady, I'm shaking in my designer boots, really I am. But, I'm running a little late, so no hard feelings," The criminal raised his cane, the straight end pointing at him and its bottom flipping up into a crosshair, "but this is where we part ways." He fired and Ruby immediately realized the projectile was a very explosive and compact form of fire Dust. A swift semblance enabled jump took him out of harm's way, but when he landed the criminal was nowhere in sight! He was obviously a criminal mastermind that would dog Ruby for years to come, his arch-nemesis that would drive him to a series of morally questionable, but dramatic and ultimately heroic episodes culminating in a-

Ruby was shaken out of his comic book storyline plotting by a hand shaking him by the shoulder. The old man was stood in front of him, and with his other hand he was pointing at the criminal leader making a hasty climb up a ladder onto the roof of a nearby building, "Oh, I knew he was there the whole time, I was just, uh, giving him a head start, to be fair!" The old man looked unconvinced as Ruby ran towards the ladder shouting back at him, "Sorry about your window!" before using the recoil from Crescent Rose to propel him to the rooftop in one shot.

The old man could only sigh as he bent down to rummage around the pockets of the unconscious thug at his feet, maybe they were carrying enough lien to cover the damages. He could use the insurance money to retire.

Up on the rooftop Ruby confronted the criminal face to eminently dressed back, "You're a persistent girl, anyone ever tell you that at a tea party?"

"I'm not a girl!" And with a very masculine battlecry, that was at least two octaves higher in his mind than in Roman's ears, he launched himself at the taunter. His battle screech was part of the reason he didn't realize a bullhead had emerged from the alleyway and was hovering at rooftop level. Ruby promptly got a mouthful of bullhead after Roman jumped upwards to dodge him, Roman fell back onto Ruby's head, delivering a swift kick to his face with his heel, using the momentum to push himself into the waiting passenger hold of the bullhead. Ruby stumbled backwards and fell flat on his rear end, clutching his stinging face even as his aura worked to repair the damage.

Roman laughed and brought his free hand up to wipe a tear from his face while he kept Melodic Cudgel aimed at Ruby, "Heh, thanks for the laugh kid, but I'm afraid we're going to have to cut your slapstick comedy career short." He swiftly brought his free hand down from his face to grab a fire Dust crystal out of a pouch and throw it at Ruby. Ruby could only look on in horror as it landed at his feet and a shot from Roman's cane followed it up quickly, his last thought before it exploded, _I hope Yang takes care of Crescent Rose._

An explosion blew past Ruby Rose, the roar of air combusting and being pushed outwards at supersonic velocities not doing nearly as much damage to his ears as he thought it would. Also the whole explosion thing seemed to do a lot less life ending damage than he initially had thought it would. Tentatively he opened his eyes, somewhat expecting the ghost of his father, Taiyang, to greet him in the afterlife. What instead met his teenage male eyes was the rather pleasant sight of a well developed female posterior.

Ruby quickly cut those thoughts off when he noticed the riding crop the woman was holding, and when he noticed the glyphs and telekinesis she used he promised he'd swear a life of celibacy before ever thinking about her like that again. If being raised by Yang and Summer had taught him anything, he did not want to get involved with a huntress like that, he'd prefer for all his bits to stay exactly where they were, thank you very much.

While he had been contemplating the many ways a girl with the skills of Summer or Yang could have painfully killed him, the huntress who had saved him had done considerable damage to the bullhead, but then a woman had replaced the criminal in the fight. Between her Dust use and outfit, which almost gave Ruby a couple of unintentional shows, Ruby felt confident in saying Yang would have described this woman in one word: hot.

But never let it be said that Ruby Rose would sit by and let women fight his battles for him! All those times Summer and Yang did exactly that notwithstanding! And so, after quickly checking her for damage, Ruby switched Crescent Rose to her dedicated sniper form and let off a few shots at the fire Dust user. Ruby was a bit irked when she brought up her hand to block all of them like she was warding off tennis balls, _And this is why I do need high explosive rounds on me at all times,_ mom!

The mysterious enemy brought her hand up and the roof beneath Ruby started glowing and making a, "I'm about to explode," noise, which was never a good sign, really. But, before Ruby could utilize the recoil of Crescent Rose in his patented, Get Me Anywhere but Here™, technique, he was pushed out of the way of harm by the huntress with the very normal butt. He was starting to feel kinda bad that this woman had saved his life twice in the span of two minutes, but hey, he'd put up with fifteen years of Yang Xiao-Long, so maybe this was just a down payment by karma.

Regardless of cosmic recompense for Yang's puns and teasing, the criminal bullhead turned to flee and flew away, leaving Ruby with only one problem. When the woman who had saved his life twice turned to regard him with a critical eye, Ruby said the first thing that came to his mind, "You have a very normal butt."

She turned to face him fully, an eyebrow arched and eyes that were like green steel, "I'm Glynda Goodwitch. You are quite skilled with your scythe…"

Several seconds of silence passed before Ruby realized she was waiting for him to give his name, "Oh sorry, I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose! Future huntsman extraordinaire!"

The answer seemed to intrigue the huntress, "You're the dau-son? Of Summer Rose?"

Ruby thought she could see both Yang and that well dressed criminal leader holding each other for support as they laughed themselves blue in his head, he could only sigh despondently, "Yes, I'm a guy, and yes, Summer Rose is my mom."

Glynda carried on without response to that, "Interesting. If you'd please stay for a moment while I make a call." Apparently she just assumed his compliance as she immediately turned from Ruby and brought out her scroll, diving into a quiet conversation that Ruby couldn't make out a word of. After about a minute she put her scroll away and turned back to Ruby, "You made quite a mess with those men, and you've caught the attention of my superior."

This was getting weird, he was thankful for the whole saving his life thing, twice, but all those warnings, about staying away from weird, older women determined to take him somewhere, from Summer were coming back into his head. _Then again,_ he thought as he felt the weight of Crescent Rose in his hands, _I don_ _'t think mom always remembers that I'm frickin badass._ "So, who's your superior? And why do they want to see me?"

Glynda turned away from Ruby and strode toward the edge of the roof, she looked back to him over her shoulder, "Professor Ozpin." And then she jumped straight off the roof.

Ruby followed her.

"They started it!" Seriously why couldn't this woman get that through her blond head?

"If it were up to me you'd be sent with a pat on the back," The blond in question said with the first smile Ruby had seen on her face as she walked around the table he was sat at, she raised her riding crop, "and a slap on the wrist!" Her riding crop came down, narrowly missing Ruby's hands as he jerked them away with a manly, "Eeep!"

 _Who just waves around a magical riding crop and smacks teenagers with it? If she was a teacher or something she_ _'d be fired for it!_

"But, there is someone here who would like to meet you." And right on cue a silver-haired man with the most ridiculous glasses Ruby had ever seen, and he'd seen all of Yang's novelty glasses, stepped out from the shadows with a steaming mug and a plate of chocolate chip cookies. He walked to the table and laid the plate of cookies at Ruby's hands before he sat down opposite of the teen.

The man, whom Ruby felt like he should recognize, took a long sip out of his mug before placing it down and regarding Ruby with a kind, wise face that bespoke of years and years of experience and wisdom. Ruby hardly glanced at the man as he desperately tried to resist the temptation to wolf down the whole plate of cookies in front of him, _Be strong Ruby, you_ _'re stronger than a plate of cookies, no matter how warm, soft, and obviously freshly baked they are._ His arm slowly crawled toward the plate, having gone rogue and refusing to follow orders from high command, _This is treason! Mutiny! We_ _'re better than this! Stop it hand!_ The rogue hand grasped the cookie at the center of the plate and the top of the pile, it brought it up to Ruby's face where his treacherous mouth opened eagerly, _No! No. N-_ The cookie hit his tongue and the next thing Ruby saw was a small flurry of dissipating rose petals falling slowly towards an empty plate. _They tasted just like mom_ _'s, no wonder I couldn't resist. But we'll still have words later, hand!_

It was then that Ruby looked up and saw the two adults regarding him. Glynda wore a critical and stern frown, the other an amused and patient smile. The elderly man spoke, "You have your mother's eyes, young Ruby, and I dare say her sweet tooth as well," The man chuckled as he took another sip from his mug, "but although your mother is a skilled huntress herself, she does not wield such a dangerous and esoteric weapon as your scythe. I'm interested to know how you came to wield it so expertly." He nodded towards Glynda, whose scroll was displaying camera footage of his battle, slaughter really, outside the Dust shop.

 _Her, not_ _'it'! Crescent Rose is a delicate lady!_ Ruby thought to correct him, but decided at the last moment the cookies had embarrassed him enough, "Sh-uh, Signal Academy."

"Indeed? They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" He seemed mildly surprised.

"Well, one teacher in particular, my uncle, Qrow." A man who loved alcohol almost as much as Ruby loved cookies, _Maybe I should carry around a flask of cookie batter?_

"Hmm, and why are you attending Signal Academy, Mister Rose? Following in your parents' footsteps?"

"I want to be a huntsman!"

"You want to slay monsters?"

"Well, yeah. My father was an awesome huntsman, and my mother still is, and my uncle is a huntsman too, and my sister is also trying to become a huntress, so I guess it's just a family thing, y'know?. I mean, they're all super awesome badasses, so why not me too? I mean, the police and the military are okay, but huntsmen and huntresses are just so much more frickin badass, awesome, and totally cool!" Ruby realized somewhere along the way he had thrust both his arms into the air and he sheepishly lowered them while muttering, "traitors."

The elderly man, sage and unflappable, looked down at Ruby past his wacky glasses, "Do you know who I am?"

It dawned on Ruby all at once, wise old man, works with a badass, if super scary, huntress that obviously defers to him, and wears spectacles that serve absolutely no purpose but to enhance his cryptic persona, "You're Professor Ozpin, the headmaster at Beacon Academy." _Crap, if I make any of a worse impression it might hurt Yang_ _'s admission. If he thinks my whole family is as crazy as m-wait, my whole family_ is _as crazy as me. Most of them are worse!_

"Do you want to come to my school?"

"I'm sorry for th-wait, WHAT!?" _Did he? Did he!? NO WAY!_ _Oh my gods he said! Holy. Crap. I mean I know I_ _'m frickin badass, but but, but, but, BEACON!? NOW!?_

"I sai-"

"YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES." It took Ruby a few seconds to realize that he was running around the room using his semblance while screaming at the top of his lungs, but when he did he decided that this reaction was one hundred percent warranted for the news that he, Ruby Rose, future greatest huntsman on Remnant, was getting into Beacon two years early! _I_ _'m going to be going with Yang, wait until I tell her! This is the greatest day of my life!_

He still thought that two minutes later when Glynda realized he wasn't going to be stopping any time soon and brought his little race to an end using her semblance. But even as he was ushered out the room, hanging upside down and being carried by Glynda's telekinesis, he couldn't keep the smile from splitting his face. _Look out Beacon, here comes Ruby Rose._


	2. Chapter 2: Home Life

"…and that's pretty much it!" Ruby finished, hands held before him as if offering all that had he just recounted to his audience. His audience consisted of his sister and his mother, the former sat next to him in an identical cushioned chair as his own, the latter across from him in a well-worn love seat; all of them were sat in the cozy living room of the Rose family house on the island of Patch. Yang looked thrilled, beyond thrilled even, she looked like she was about rush out of her chair and grab Ruby up in a spine crushing hug, he had his semblance ready in case she did just that. Summer looked pleased, but not quite as pleased as Ruby had imagined she would be. _She_ _'s probably just concerned about those criminals who escaped,_ Ruby thought, _she_ _'s always thinking about stopping bad guys, she's so noble! I'll be just like you one day mom, I promise._

"That's incredible Ruby! I always knew my little brother was kickass, but this is something else! Getting into Beacon two years early and personally invited by the headmaster? Everyone's going to think you're the bee's knees!" Yang's smile was glowing and her pride and affection radiated off of her almost as palpably as her anger did when she used her semblance as she carried on about how awesome her little brother was, but now that Yang mentioned it he _would_ be a center of attention at Beacon wouldn't he? _And why_ _'d she have to say something so lame anyway? Who says 'the bee's knees?' Even when I stop armed criminals she still talks to me like I'm a kid!_ He'd had plenty of attention at Signal too. Uncle Qrow and Summer Rose both taught there for one thing, not to mention he was pretty damn good at fighting and wielded the most badass weapon in all of Remnant. In spite of, or more likely _because_ of, though Ruby was too young and naive to realize it, all his talents and familial connection he'd often been somewhat of a social outcast. His skills made him envied, his open and forward demeanor made him stand out, and his eccentricities made him easy to pick on. In fact most of the few friends he did have were only his "friends" so they'd have an excuse to spend time around Yang. Even Ruby wasn't blind enough to notice how many boys followed his sister around, his own friends included, and he had a pretty good idea of why that was. And, to drive the point home, the reason, or rather the _two_ reasons, for that were happily bouncing up and down on her chest as she went through a range of motions to bodily punctuate the list of reasons why Ruby was going to be so "popular" at Beacon. He was pretty sure his sister was still going to be one of those reasons. _Heh, I_ _'m probably the only guy at Signal that didn't want to be smothered in Yang's chest._ A slide show of memories of near suffocation trapped in Yang's cleavage flashed through his mind as he grimaced, _I_ _'m also the only one who was. Ugh!_

Summer cut into the conversation as Yang paused for air, her smile motherly and small, "You did very well, Ruby. I'm proud of you." Her ever present white cloak, the inspiration for her son's, rustled slightly as she glanced away from him suddenly to cough, "You said he offered you to start this semester right?"

"Yup! In just three days!" Her smile, small as it was, shrunk a little more at her son's confirmation, but Ruby didn't even notice as his mind was wholly occupied imagining the future, his future, as he talked, "I've got so much to do to get ready! I'm going to dismantle Crescent Rose fully to give her a full cleaning, which I was going to do anyway since her weekly fully dismantled maintenance was going to be tomorrow anyway, but I'm going to take extra care now! I might even do it twice, she's going to have to be in tip-top shape for her first day at Beacon! I've got to get all my clothes cleaned and packed, and maybe we can go to that Dust mage in Vale tomorrow mom to get another cloak for me? This one is still fine but I'd love to have a spare handy at Beacon just in case the Dust in this one messes up or something. And I'll need to get all my Dust packed up properly, I still have to make a bunch of rounds still too! And not to mention what I'll need for regular school supplies…"

Yang watched with a huge smile and a warm heart as Ruby went on and on about everything he had to do to get ready for Beacon. Some people, most even, might say Ruby Rose was shy, socially awkward, and naive, and while they were pretty much completely right, they were only right when it came to public settings. Put Ruby in a crowd of people and ask him to try and make a friend and he'd just stand there and look dumbly at you, Yang knew that from experience, but put him at home with his mom and sister and he'd talk for hours and hours about huntsmen, or Dust, or Crescent Rose. Especially that last one.

Yang cringed internally as she remembered the last, and only, time she'd told her little bro that Ember Celica was a better weapon than Crescent Rose, mostly just to get a rise out of him. And, oh boy, did it get a rise out of him! She wasn't entirely convinced at the time that Ruby wasn't about to burst into flames and use her own semblance on her.

Even in public Ruby could sometimes lose himself and get excited if you got him on the right topics, though instead of making him more sociable it unfortunately made him seem weirder to any prospective friends, _Their loss,_ Yang thought. But after a few of those incidents early on in Ruby's time at Signal he learned to "control" himself and suppress any public outbursts of his passions. He'd gotten pretty good at it, she was sad to admit to herself, he shouldn't have to hide his feelings from people, but there were plenty of tells he had when he was excited. Take now, for instance, he was moving his hands all around, accentuating everything he said with thrusts and waves of his arms, if he was in a public setting and trying to clamp down on his feelings he'd not be doing that, obviously, but they'd still be fidgeting, messing with his cloak or petting Crescent Rose. Her little brother was a bundle of energy, and when he got excited he just couldn't help himself, he had to express that energy somehow. She remembered when he first got the inspiration for Crescent Rose, he had literally burst into rose petals and locked himself away in his room for over a day planning her out. She had plenty of jokes about how _fast_ her little brother was, but she was saving those for when he got his first girlfriend.

And while Yang could read Ruby like a book it wasn't just because she'd known him for her whole life, Yang had a decent natural talent at reading people, their emotions, their motivations, what made them tick. She wasn't exactly a psychic, but she was decent. She couldn't read anyone as well as Ruby, obviously, but there were some others she could figure out easier than others. One of those people was seated next to her and listening politely to her son's long-winded and dizzyingly fast one-sided conversation. Even so, it wouldn't take someone of even Yang's modest people reading abilities to figure out that Summer Rose was not happy. How static her smile was, the way it wilted every time Ruby made mention of leaving home, how one hand kept playing with the hem of her cloak, _I think that_ _'s where Ruby gets that from now that I think about it_. It was plain to Yang Xiao Long that her stepmother was not exactly thrilled with the idea of her son leaving home two years earlier than she had anticipated.

Yang had to try and do something about that. "Hey, Ruby."

"…and of course I'll have t-oh, yeah what's up sis?" Ruby tilted his head at her just like Zwei did when he was confused and Yang almost died trying to keep herself from _d_ _'awwwww_ -ing out loud. Which she did manage, if barely. _You have no right to be so cute Ruby._

"I know there's a lot you need to get done before we go to Beacon, but I think it's just as important that we celebrate! So I think we should go out somewhere tonight to do just that, right mom?" Yang nodded to Summer and saw the appreciation in her eyes as her smile grew into a real one for the first time since Ruby broke the news.

"That's a great idea sweetheart! Honey, why don't you go wash up and change into some fresh clothes?" She nodded at Ruby, "They're all worn out from your fight."

Ruby's silver eyes widened like a pair of full moons, and he looked down at his clothes, quickly tugging a piece of his cloak into his lap to inspect it, "OH MY GOSH! MY CLOAK IS TORN!" And with that he rushed up the stairs to the second story, rose petals flowing after him in his wake while he cursed and swore vengeance on the criminals who had dared to defile his favorite garment. Yang would have found it funny but for the similarities in the way that she viewed her illustrious hair. If someone had damaged her perfect locks she'd, well, Junior had found out the hard way. She lovingly petted her hair, _It_ _'s okay baby, mommy's never going to let someone hurt you again._

"Thank you, Yang. Going out together tonight is a wonderful idea." She smiled and patted the empty part of the love seat she sat on, "Have I ever told you that you're my favorite daughter?"

Yang rolled her eyes dramatically as she sat down next to Summer, leaning into the woman's side as she ran her hands through her stepdaughter's golden hair, looking for knots to untangle, she'd never find any of course, not with the fanatical way in which Yang cared for her hair, but it was comforting for both of them. "I'm your only daughter."

Summer laughed but didn't say anything for a while, the two of them sitting in peaceful silence, well, relatively peaceful, Ruby was making a racket upstairs as he ran around getting cleaned and fussing over his cloak. "I'm not just going to miss him you know." She put a hand under Yang's chin and turned her head to face her, "I love you too. I couldn't possibly love you anymore even if you came from my own womb." She bent down to kiss Yang on her forehead.

Yang sighed contentedly and nuzzled further into Summer's side, she leaned down to rest her head on the woman's breasts as she continued to stroke her hair, "I know mom, I know it just caught you off guard with how out of the blue it was. It caught me off guard too, I thought I wouldn't have to put up with the brat for a couple of years!" Yang chuckled as Summer lightly slapped her on the side of her head, they both knew Yang was just teasing. In fact, Yang knew for certain there wasn't a person in the world she loved more than Ruby Rose. As much as a handful as her brother could be, he was her only family, true blood family at least. Unless you counted Uncle Qrow, but calling Uncle Qrow family was like calling a chicken a bird. It was true, obvious, and you still loved it, but there were a lot of differences between it and a song bird.

"I'm happy for the both of you, and so, so very proud of you both. And I know you two will do wonderfully at Beacon and love it, my four years at Beacon were some of the best of my life. The only ones better have been the seventeen since you were born."

Yang was a pretty emotional person, not very "lovey-dovey" or "sappy," but she certainly didn't try to hide or suppress her emotions. So it was a somewhat uncommon but not entirely rare for her when she teared up a little hearing Summer's words and feeling her heartbeat under her breast. Yang knew Summer loved her, of course, and she loved Summer like she was her own mother, and by all rights except biological Summer Rose _was_ Yang's mother, but it still felt good to hear her state her love and feel her show it from time to time, if only to put to rest the occasional niggling doubt in the back of her mind. "We'll visit at least once a month mom, and we'll call several times a week."

Summer sighed, and Yang couldn't tell exactly what emotions Summer was hiding behind that sound, but it wasn't sad and that's all that mattered, "I know you will sweetheart, I know you will." Summer Rose was a lot like Yang in the emotions department, like Yang she wasn't afraid to show her emotions, but after so many years as a team leader, then a solo adventuring huntress, then a single mom, she'd grown accustom to handling all of her emotions herself and putting them aside for the good of those around her. But Summer Rose wasn't afraid to cry, which was evident every time Yang or Ruby did anything even mildly impressive and Summer would go on and on about how amazing her children were.

It was also evident every time Yang went downstairs in the middle of night to get a late night snack and caught Summer watching a trashy romance movie and eating out of a tub of ice cream. Yang had been tempted to tease her about that once or twice, but she had a pretty good idea what, or rather whom, Summer was thinking about when she watched those movies and cried to herself in the dead of night. Sometimes Yang would stay down there with her mom and they'd cry together and eat ice cream together, but they never needed to say much to each other during those times. The few times Ruby had caught them he'd mumbled something about over emotional girls disturbing his sleep and would wonder aloud why all women couldn't be like Crescent Rose. Yang thought it spoke volumes about her brother's psyche that he found more comfort in the idea of a super deadly gun-scythe with enough blades on it to open a sawmill than he did the female body and soul.

It was pretty scary to think that Ruby Rose of all people was the least emotional person in their little family. Heck, even _Qrow_ could downright sentimental when he was drunk, not regular people drunk, obviously, but Qrow Branwen drunk, which meant really frickin drunk. Yang shuddered at the memory of the bear hug her uncle had given her that one time, _Is that how Ruby feels when I hug him? Maybe I_ _'ve been cruel to my little brother._

Ruby Rose coughed loudly from the top of the stairs where he was stood. His red hair still looked wet from his quick shower, and Ruby could take might quick showers, Yang idly wondered if he could just turn into rose petals and wash himself that way, _Oh gosh, what if he did that as part of a date? Turned into rose petals in a tub of water!?_ Ruby had told her many times that he didn't have that level of control over his semblance, _yet,_ Yang always added to herself. She was probably one of the only girls in the world who never wanted a suitor to present her with a bouquet of roses on the paranoid suspicion it might contain her brother in disguise. Yang shook her head to dismiss that line of thought as Ruby spoke, "I figured out my cloak wasn't damaged, _mom_ ," Ruby looked accusingly at Summer who put on one of the best, "Who? Me?" faces Yang had ever seen, "Part of it was just being used by my semblance since I guess I got a little excited when I was talking." His face flushed a little and Yang found it hard to resist the urge to rush up the stairs and pinch his cheeks while asking him why his face was so rosy.

Ruby rushed down the stairs and came to stand beside Summer, who was still cuddling Yang. She patted her knee and Ruby sat down on it before leaning backwards to snuggle into her chest himself. Summer hummed a little tune for a bit as she rocked slightly, side to side, her two children snuggling up to her and held tightly to her bosom. "So where do you two want to go? It's celebration for both of you, after all." She squeezed Yang a little tighter as she said that.

Ruby answered first, "Anywhere Yang wants to go is good with me!" As long as they have good cookies, it went unsaid. Yang and Summer both knew him well enough to know that automatically.

Yang flushed just the tiniest bit at her brother's casual kindness, normally it wouldn't have affected her so, but after her short heart-to-heart with Summer it was just an extra bit of sweetness that was so quintessentially Ruby. "Awwwwwww, that's so sweet of you!" She laughed and wrapped both arms around him before he could run away, she hugged him tightly into her breasts as he struggled futilely against her, beating his arms against her back and making all sorts of suffocating noises that Yang was seventy percent sure were over dramatic. It was hard to tell sometimes, she did have very powerful breasts.

Summer laughed and wrapped her arms around them both, holding them in a tight hug that Ruby had a decent chance of not surviving.

 _This is the most important thing in the world,_ Yang thought to herself as she loosened her grip enough for Ruby to take in a great gasp of air and start ranting at her about the merits of _not_ suffocating her brother in her, as he so elegantly put it, "over-sized milk jugs." Yang playfully knocked him on the side of the head as he kept ranting at her, silver eyes flashing in indignation though he never made the slightest effort to actually push away from her, _He_ _'s the most important thing in the world to me._


	3. Chapter 3: First Impressions

Ruby Rose closed his eyes and took a deep breath as the airship landed. This was it. The moment he'd been waiting for. Beacon Academy was just a few short steps away! Ruby released his breath with a happy _squee_ and pulled on Yang's arm as he looked up to her face, "Come on Yang! Let's go let's go let's go letsgoletsgoletsgoletsgo!"

Yang grinned at his enthusiasm and let him drag her by her arm through the airship and down the ramp onto the landing platform. There they both stopped to stare up and gawk at the sight of Beacon Academy. They'd both seen plenty of pictures before, of course, but in person the campus grounds were so much more impressive.

While Yang continued to appreciate the architecture and landscaping of the Academy grounds, Ruby found his attention quickly caught by the diversity of weapons wielded by his fellow students departing the airship. From the simplest Dust imbued spears and swords to the most intricately engineered mecha-shift weapons, all sorts of tools of the trade surrounded Ruby. He methodically evaluated every weapon he could see, and after twenty seconds he was relieved to find nothing that came close to the perfection of Crescent Rose, at least not at first glance. Ruby knew better than most that when it came to a huntsman's weapon, looks could be very deceiving.

He looked back over to Yang, who was smiling conspiratorially at him, "I take it Crescent Rose is safe from being replaced?"

Ruby looked horrified as he pulled Crescent Rose from his back and hugged it tight to his chest, "How could you say something like that Yang? No one could ever replace my baby! I was just scouting out the competition." Left unsaid was that a couple of the weapons had caught his eye, but only for what inspiration they could give him in future upgrades to his beloved gun-scythe.

Yang grinned and pulled his hood over his head before giving him a noogie through the Dust-infused material. "You are such a dork!"

She laughed while Ruby flushed and fought vainly to push her away, "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaang! Stop it! Yang!" The other students departing the bullhead spared the occasional glance but otherwise ignored the pair.

Yang eventually relented, pulling her hand away chuckling, but just as her laughter started to die out Ruby pulled back his hood indignantly and gave Yang what he no doubt thought was a wilting glare. It made Yang burst out with a few guffaws as Ruby attacked her with ineffective punches. Weak though his punches were, Yang made some effort to deflect, though laughing as she was more than a few of his fists got past her guard. A few more bystanders had started to notice the little altercation forming between the two siblings, though no one gave it too much heed, this was a huntsman academy, after all, it only really took weird types.

"Yang you're the worst! This is the biggest day of my, of _our_ lives, and you still can't help but pick on me!?" Ruby's words were emphasized by a liberal sprinkling of punches. None of which seemed to even register a reaction from Yang, other than more laughter.

"I-ahaha-I'm sorry-hehehe-bro, but you're just too-hahahaha-cute!" This statement only elicited a frustrated growl from Ruby who redoubled his punching effort in a vain attempt to regain his ego and a masculinity that had been beaten down by Yang for years.

Eventually, Ruby had quite enough and resorted to his final tactic, other than drawing Crescent Rose and actually attacking his sister, he reared his arm back as far as he could and focused his mind on the aura gathered within it, then with a complicated manipulation of his aura that he was so use to it was almost automatic, it rocketed forward in a flurry of rose petals and a flash of fist. It caught Yang square in the side of the jaw, whipping her head sideways with a flash of aura. "How's that for cute!?"

Ruby immediately regretted it, though not because of any guilt. He knew that Yang's aura was large enough that it would have taken a couple dozen of punches like that to actually harm her, though a civilian would have probably suffered a broken jaw with one. The reason Ruby regretted attacking his sister with a semblance enhanced punch was not because he was afraid he had hurt her. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

 _Uh-oh_ , he thought as Yang slowly turned her head back to him, her eyes were closed and she was obviously forcing herself to take slow, calm breaths. Her hair glowed faintly with a familiar flame. "That? That was really, _really_ cute little brother. But I think it's time I teach you how to punch for real!" And with that Yang's eyes exploded open like a blade being drawn from its sheathe as she yelled a battle cry that made Ruby's hair stand on end.

Ruby barely dodged his sister's fist, which would have hit him on the top of the head and sent him tumbling off the landing platform and onto the grass of the campus, not off the platform and down the half-mile to the water, thankfully. Ruby took some small comfort in that, since it hopefully meant Yang wasn't actually trying to kill him, but, he decided as he heard his sister scream behind him, chasing him across the grass, that it was a small comfort indeed.

"What's the matter bro? I punch like a girl too!"

A very small comfort.

Weiss Schnee was happy. It wasn't an entirely unusual feeling for her; she always had happy little times during the course of a day like most people did, when Klein snuck her a slice of cake not in her diet, for instance, or when Whitley tripped over his own lanky limbs. But this was a different kind of happiness, a kind she hadn't felt in years. This was more than momentary pleasure, more than some ephemeral state of bliss brought on by transitory events, this was actual joy. Joy at the thought of the future, joy that this day would be the start a new Weiss Schnee. No longer the princess in the tower, the girl behind father's legs, no, today marked the beginning of Weiss Schnee the woman, the Huntress!

She should have known that fate wouldn't allow that to stand. And so it shouldn't have come as a surprise when an incredible force struck her back and sent her tumbling into her luggage, which politely let her pass so she could eat a face full of concrete. Her aura glowed a dull white where she hit the ground as the sharp pain dulled and started to disappear, her anger, however, had no intention of going away.

And so with a huff of righteous indignation she pushed herself up from the ground and turned to find the person whose guts were about to become well acquainted with Myrtenaster. The quivering ball of red and black that stared up at her from the ground with quavering silver eyes was not the best sight to stoke the flame of anger inside her, and neither was the apparent boy's first words to her, "I'm really, really sorry! I didn't mean to run into you, I was running from m-"

Nevertheless, Weiss soldiered on to give this cute, no!, this annoying boy a piece of her mind, "What in the world are you doing!? Do you know how much Dust is in these?" She gestured angrily at her many suitcases now spread across the plaza. "You could have killed us!" That might not have been entirely true, since only an idiot would moved Dust around in containers that couldn't shield it from a little tumble, but that didn't mean you threw them around to test it!

The boy, whose gender was only confirmed by his voice, looked around in a sudden panic, "Oh no! I'm so, so sorry! Please, I really didn't mean to damage your Dust! I'll help you get it back together!" She was about to turn down his offer of help but before she could a flurry of rose petals surrounded her and darted to her fallen suitcases, they were returned to her dolly in a matter of seconds. The boy, whom she noted was a bit shorter than her, then stood before her with his eyes cast to the ground and sporting a sheepish smile, the last of her suitcases held out to her in his outstretched hands, "I'm really sorry about bumping into you, is there anything I can do to make it up to you? I, uh, I'm Ruby, by the way."

Another biting retort almost passed her lips, but then she noticed the lock and clasp on the suitcase held before her was broken and some cloth was stuck between its two halves, keeping the container slightly ajar. It was with a damning blush and tsunami of mortification that Weiss realized exactly what was in this suitcase. It was underwear, but not just any regular under garments, it was the, uh, well, the, _Dammit Weiss you can_ _'t afford to stutter in your own head! It's lingerie!_ Her lingerie. One of several gifts she'd been given by production companies over her singing career. She'd refused the photo-shoot they'd offered alongside it, obviously, not that father would have let her anyway, but a not at all proper part of her had been unable to refuse the garments themselves. She'd only worn them once, alone in her room after she'd checked half a dozen times no one was going to sneak up on her, and to her immense pleasure and embarrassment, what a strange combination of emotions that had been, she had looked very good in them. She had decided to take them with her to Beacon, but more out of the fear that father would call her one day to ask about some clothes a maid had found in her room than any desire to use them.

Luckily, the boy in front of her was much too interested in staring at his shoes to notice exactly what it was he held in his arms. With a speed reminiscent of the semblance of the boy in front of her, for that was obviously what those rose petals had been, she snatched the suitcase from his hands and quickly stuffed the piece of showing cloth back into it before hiding it under a couple of other pieces of her luggage. When she turned back to the little red-hooded boy his head was even lower and he was scuffing a foot against the concrete, for all the world he looked like a sad puppy, but she had to put a clamp on these soft emotions if she was going to get anywhere with him, people wouldn't respect her if she acted weak, "You dolt! What in the world were you doing to wind up running into me anyway?"

Her question brought a sudden life to Ruby, who quickly jumped to his full height, which Weiss was pleased to see still remained below her, and he quickly checked over both his shoulders before spinning around to check the surrounding courtyard, "Oh no, how could I forget? She's going to kill me!"

"What ar-" she was cut off by a sudden roar of rage and a flash of yellow metal and flame streaking past her toward Ruby, thousands of hours of training kicked in naturally and in a split second she'd brought up a shielding glyph between the boy and his assailant. The fist struck the magical barrier and bounced off it with a powerful crack.

"Argh, what the fu-" Weiss had no idea why this girl was attacking Ruby, but she didn't feel like giving the girl the chance to turn her fists on herself, so taking action now to ask questions later she summoned another glyph underneath the girl that sent her several feet in the air and followed up with a quick burst of Dust from Myrtenaster which she altered with her glyphs. The shot of Dust split in two and wrapped around both of the girl's wrists, locking them at her sides. The blond girl, who was dressed a bit sparingly in Weiss' mind, turned her burning red eyes to regard her. "You better have a good explanation for this, whiteout!"

"Me!? You came flying out of nowhere to attack Ruby!" Weiss motioned to the boy, it took her mind a few seconds to realize he was laughing."Why are you laughing?"

Ruby didn't respond at first, preferring to continue his laughing and pointing at the blond girl. He walked over to her and raised a hand up as if to shake her hand, "Hey sis, need a hand?" And he sniggered.

To Weiss' confusion the blond's eyes immediately turned from red to lavender and she grinned down at Ruby, "Nah, bro, I'm just _Yang_ -ing out!" The boy groaned and dropped his face into his hands. The girl turned back to regard Weiss, "Could you let me down now please?"

Weiss just stared at the two, convinced that the two apparent siblings were certifiably crazy.

"Yo, whiteout?"

Weiss' eye twitched at the nickname. This was not how she had envisioned the first day of her new life starting.


	4. Chapter 4: Pillow Talk

Weiss sighed for the umpteenth time as she unfurled her sleeping bag. Beside her, and past the small wall of her suitcases she'd erected between them, Ruby yapped happily about some story or book or similar. To Weiss' continued amazement his blond sister laid beside him happily, nodding her head at the appropriate times and offering short comments. It was less of a conversation than a lecture really. Not for the first time that day Weiss found herself asking just how two siblings could be so different. Certainly there were differences between Winter, Whitley, and herself, quite large differences she liked to think. But they also had much in common, especially physically.

Ruby, her self-appointed "friend," had boundless energy but appeared to be somewhat shy considering he hadn't wandered more than ten feet from his sister the entire day, excluding when he ran into Weiss herself. He was annoyingly persistent in his claim that the two of them were friends, normally Weiss would have chalked it up to her fame as either a singer or heiress to the SDC, but neither of the two had made any comment to that effect.

She hadn't said or done anything to reinforce the boy's foolish notion that they were friends, but when it was time for the assembly Ruby and Yang had stayed with her. When they went to change into their sleepwear, Ruby and Yang stayed with her, well Yang was nearby, Ruby went to the male changing rooms of course. In fact, he was waiting right outside the female changing rooms when Yang emerged. When they went to lay out their sleeping bags, Yang and Ruby set up beside her. She had planned on moving, but nearly the entire room was covered by then and it really would have been more hassle than it was worth.

"…on't you thi- Weiss? Is something wrong?" Weiss was brought out of her memories with a start, realizing that she had been staring at the animatedly talking Ruby, who was now staring at her with some concern. His silver eyes were soft like afternoon couds and his head was tilted slightly, exactly like a confused puppy. She was not at all comfortable with how cute he was.

Nor was she comfortable with how her cheeks were starting to heat up, only in embarrassment, of course, certainly nothing else. "No! No, nothing's wrong. I just, like your hair?" _What?_ _Real smooth Weiss. Smooth as a frozen lake, maybe the ice will crack and I_ _'ll drown, that'd be a mercy._

While Weiss cursed herself internally for making an awkward situation ten times worse, she was saved by the, apparently boundless, naivete of Ruby, "Aww, thank you, Weiss! You're the first person who's ever told me that! Well, except for Yang and Mom. Y'know, some people think it's dyed, but it's actually totally natural. I probably spend twenty minutes on it every morning. Normally I-" And he was off again. Weiss wasn't normally one for stereotypes, at least the ones which were untrue, but she had to confess she'd never met a guy so interested in hair. Though, one look at his sister and she had a pretty good idea where he might have acquired it. "-Yang won't let me out of the house without checking my hair she says-" Yup, that wasn't a very hard inference. In fact, now that she was paying attention to him, he _did_ have nice hair. It reminded her, unsurprisingly, of roses. "-and you have really beautiful hair too Weiss!"

The annoying, immature boy who had pestered her all day and completely destroyed her expectations of Beacon and her new life sat across from her after yapping in her ear for over an hour. His smile was wide and his eyes filled with the same joy she had felt inside of her early that day. Everything Weiss knew about herself told her she should have found this boy insufferable, and well, she did. But for some reason she just couldn't bring herself to some icy retort. For some reason the idea of seeing him as sad as he had been when he ran into her was not nearly as appealing as it should have been. _You_ _'re getting soft, Weiss._ "Thank you, Ruby. You're the first person to tell me that as well." _The first person to tell me that who_ _'s not looking to get in father's good graces,_ she added internally.

Weiss' words shocked Ruby, "No way! There is no way no one has told you how beautiful your hair is! It's _so_ pretty! I mean it's like-" And there he went again. As he laid compliment after compliment onto Weiss' hair and her apparent dedication to it, she couldn't keep the pride from swelling just a bit in her chest nor the slight blush creeping back into her cheeks.

* * *

Yang watched Weiss from the corner of her eye. Ostensibly she was sizing up the guys on the other side of the room just like one would expect from a scantily clad blond. Admittedly, the view wasn't half bad, aside from the lanky blond wearing a onesie, but the _real_ show was happening much closer.

She still didn't understand just what her brother saw in this girl. She was pretty in a porcelain doll sort of way, and she certainly looked fragile enough to fit that metaphor. But there were plenty of prettier girls in the room, the chick reading next to the candle nearby was an easy nine out of ten. Still a long way from a perfect Xiao-Long patented ten out of ten, but then again, who wasn't?

Yang wasn't shallow, she could certainly understand liking someone for their personality. Just about anyone but Weiss, that was. If she had to describe Weiss' personality in three words it would have been, "Arrogant, icy bi-" and that's when Summer would have stepped in and told her to watch her language around her younger brother. Seriously, sometimes Summer acted like Yang and Ruby were ten years apart instead of two.

Regardless, in Yang's mind Weiss had neither the body nor the attitude to catch her brother's eye, let alone deserve his attention. If it hadn't been for Ruby's insistence on befriending her, Yang would have told "Weiss-cream" several hours ago where she could stick her icicle of an attitude. Yang could perhaps forgive some of Weiss' cold shoulder throughout the day, it had be Ruby and her following Weiss pretty much everywhere she went. Well, Ruby followed Weiss and Yang followed Ruby. In fact, Ruby had done really all the talking today, she and Weiss had barely spoken to each other. It was odd for him to be so talkative to a person he'd just met, but maybe he'd finally followed her advice to be more sociable. _I guess it_ _'s true, be careful what you wish for._

But still, if this was the person Ruby wanted to befriend she'd support him in that obviously gargantuan effort, but somehow Yang doubted she'd wind up friends with the stuck-up girl. Honestly, she doubted the girl had ever had a friend with the way she acted.

 _Heh, maybe they_ _'re kindred spirits in poor social skills?_ It was an amusing thought to fall asleep with as Ruby continued to lavish praise on the girl who seemed equal parts pleased and exasperated by it.

* * *

Ruby Rose was a morning person. Well, really he was an all the time person if he was being honest with himself. Why waste time you could be training, or playing, or cleaning Crescent Rose? Yang's answer would be, "to relax," which was ridiculous. Every time Ruby had a down moment all he could think about was all the things he could be doing instead of standing around doing nothing. Which was why he was one of the first students up at the crack of dawn. This was his first full day at Beacon, there was absolutely no way he was wasting a single second of it.

In the gold and orange sleeping bag next to his own dark red one, Yang was sleeping peacefully, for her. It looked like she had tried to punch her way out of the confines of the sleeping bag several times throughout the night. And potentially had burned some of it with her semblance. But that's why all of Yang's sleeping supplies were flame retardant. Her hair was a bit tangled, so that meant well over an hour of maintenance if she had her way.

But when Ruby looked over to his other side what he saw made his breath catch. Not more than a foot away from him was the serene face of Weiss Schnee, sleeping as peacefully and beautifully as a lone white rose. Her perfect white hair framed her face and pooled beneath her to create the picture of delicate feminine beauty. Between Yang and Summer, Ruby hadn't had much experience with delicate females, and if he was being honest with himself the conscious Weiss Schnee hadn't been all that delicate either. But she looked entirely different now. So very peaceful.

Ruby did feel kind of bad for hounding the girl all day, yesterday, but despite what many, more or less correctly, thought of his social awareness, Weiss Schnee was blunt enough for even Ruby Rose to get the point. Ruby had dealt with rejection by would-be friends many times back at Signal, he had had some friends, true, but of those few most seemed much more interested in his sister's body than anything else. But he had tried many times to, "put himself out there," as Yang said, and he had failed many times. And that was why Ruby Rose knew exactly what rejection looked like, and for all her coldness, sarcasm, and sarcasm, Weiss Schnee had never told him to leave her alone. And last night she seemed like she might even be starting to enjoy spending time with him.

Ruby was so caught up in his memories of yesterday and the beauty of the girl next to him that it took his mind a few seconds to realize that something had changed about Weiss' face. It took a few more seconds for him to realize that the change was two blue orbs staring at him with an emotion quite different from the peaceful, feminine delicacy she had radiated a few moments before, "Ruby. Why did I wake up with you staring at me?"

 _Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh_ _… "_ Your face is really pretty." _…hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Well that didn't sound weird at all, congratulations Ruby, first potential friend at Beacon and you screw it up by perving on her. Maybe if Weiss doesn't kill me I can spray whipped cream into Yang's hair and have her kill me instead._

But instead of running Ruby through with her rapier the white girl huffed and turned over onto her other side, "You idiot."

What Ruby didn't see as he and Weiss both got up and started to sort their things and get their clothes for the day's coming initiation, was the slight blush on Weiss' cheeks, and, of course, the cold death the glare of her eyes promised, though Ruby was smart enough to guess the latter existed.

* * *

Yang was not a morning person, and by the time she awoke both Ruby and Weiss had completely cleaned their former bedding spots and had gone and changed into their combat clothes, alongside a good three quarters of the first year hopefuls.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaang," Ruby whined into his sister's ear as he pulled on one of her arms, "we're going to be late."

"Hmmm, shut up Zwei, I'm still sleeping, go bother Ruby."

"Yaaaaaaaaaang! I'm serious!"

Yang responded by groaning and covering her face with her arms, conveniently it blocked her smirk from Ruby's view, "Ruby? What time is it? Go back to bed, I'm sure your girlfriend is _cold_ without you."

"Yang, it's like seven thir-WAIT WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" Ruby's cheeks were suddenly far more red than even his namesake and his eyes shone bloody murder. Luckily, Weiss was not nearby, having gone to get breakfast, Ruby had, of course, promised to catch up with her when Yang woke up. Weiss, for her part, had called him an idiot and left, but, Ruby noted at the time, she hadn't told him not to. "I swear to Dust, Atlesian Premium Cookies, and Crescent Rose I will slice your head off like a stalk of wheat if you ever say that again, Xiao-Long!" Ruby had his hands around Yang's wrists and was staring straight into her eyes with red, hot anger. Yang half expected Ruby to blink and have red eyes.

She had a sneaking suspicion she had hit a nerve with her little brother if this was how he reacted; he never called her by her last name unless he was actually furious. Which meant unless she ate his cookies or forgot to buy oil for Crescent Rose, or, apparently, suggest he had feelings for Weiss Schnee. _Bro, you have horrible taste in women._ Maybe it was because Yang was the epitome of feminine perfection, perfect hair, perfect body, perfect personality, and the ability to punch through six feet of reinforced concrete. _He must be overcompensating to stay away from girls who remind him of me! No wonder he went for Flatty McBitchcicle._

She'd have to do something about that. _I always knew this day would come. Don_ _'t worry Ruby, big sis can play matchmaker as long as you need her to!_

"-solutely no way I'd ever have feelings like that for her." Apparently Yang had zoned out while Ruby was talking, not an uncommon situation.

Yang yawned and stretched, arching her back and stretching her legs. Any guy her age would have been left with an open mouth and the pitching of a tent after seeing her bust strain valiantly against her tight top and her stretch showing off all of her curves, not to mention she imagined her bed hair would be a turn on for some too. As she looked around she noticed that quite a few of the guys remaining in the room were looking her way, some out of the corner of their eyes and some staring openly. More than a few glanced jealously at Ruby, no doubt mistaking their relationship. Yang winked at a couple of the guys who stared and maintained her gaze, Yang Xiao-Long appreciated courage.

Ruby, for his part, looked at his bombshell of a sister with only confusion, "Yang? What are you doing?"

Yang smiled widely at him and winked happily, "I can't let my little brother get laid before I do!"

"Wha-YAAAAAAAAAANG-AH!" His protests were cut off as Yang grabbed him by the shoulders and bear hugged him into her ample bosom. Quite a few guys were staring now, some with disbelief and all with envy.

"What's the matter Ruby, can't handle a real woman like your big sister, Yang _Smoking-Hot_ Xiao-Long?" Yang eased up on her grip enough for Ruby to pull back and gasp for air.

He also took the time to glare at her and make his displeasure known, "One day I'm going to cut these swollen lumps of fat right off of you Xiao-Lo-Mmmpf!"

Yang smiled easily as Ruby struggled over dramatically to break free of her, because pretend to struggle all he liked he didn't try to push his head away from her. In fact, as he flailed his arms about he actually relaxed into her chest and rested his head against her. And after a couple of minutes when Yang had had enough fun and let him go, he wrapped his arms around her and gave her the quickest and shortest possible hug he could without using his semblance.

Yang Xiao-Long knew that every guy loved her boobs, her brother included. He just liked them in a different way.

And as he fussed around her and gathered her things together for her, probably to distract himself from the knowledge that he actually loved his sister so he could more easily be angry at her, Yang smiled and laughed at him. All the while the warmth on her breasts from where he had lain his head against her dissipated, and she remembered all the other countless times his head had rested there. Sad times, like the long months after their father had died and Summer had nearly shut down, when every night he had pressed his head against her bosom and sobbed and she had held him to her and cried with him. And happy times, like when Ruby finished Crescent Rose and the first thing he had done after testing it was to run to his big sister and snuggle up to her and laugh and cry tears of joy. Even now that memory threatened to bring tears to her eyes. He had worked tirelessly for months on Crescent Rose and failed numerous times, and he had come to her to cry and vent every time as well, and when he finally succeeded the first person he had gone to was her, he came to her even before he went to Summer.

It would be fair to say Yang saw herself almost as Ruby's second mother. His young, smoking hot, and effortlessly cool step-mother, obviously.

And throughout her entire life the only constant had been Ruby. He was her little brother, surrogate son, and best friend, and she could admit to herself that even though she had tried for years to get Ruby to open up to other people more, a petty, selfish part of her was afraid of losing him to someone else. Ruby had a beautiful, beautiful soul, and he was no doubt the most selfless, compassionate, and just all around good person Yang had ever met, and she knew that eventually he'd have to come more into his own and share that soul with the world.

But selfish or not, there was no way in hell that Yang Xiao-Long was going to step back and willingly play second fiddle to her brother's affection. If Weiss Schnee, _the_ Pyrrha Nikos, or the Empress of Mistral wanted a place in Ruby's heart, they would have to stand in line and go through her first. And Yang could promise that she would be very, _very_ selective in who got past her.

But when Ruby tugged on her arm once again, shoved her combat clothes into her arms, walked past her luggage that he had packed for her, and looked back at her to tell her to hurry up with his _adorable_ silver eyes set into the cutest little glare he thought was intimidating, Yang had to admit to herself, it was going to be a very long line.

Yang smirked and cracked her knuckles, _It_ _'s going to be fun playing matchmaker._

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 **Author** **'s Notes** **:** Hello everyone! After searching 's mess of a user interface for an author's note feature, I finally realized I just have to insert it myself. And it only took me about three weeks to figure that out! Yay, go me! (If I'm wrong please call me an ugly idiot and tell me where it is!)

Let me just take a minute to tell you what this story is suppose to be. R(uby)63 Rose will cover primarily the relationship of the member's of Team RWBY if Ruby Rose was a guy. It will have romance, cuteness, fighting, sadness, and quite a few cuddles. And Weiss being the Queen of Tsunderes, Yang being the Yangiest big sister possible, Blake being the cutest black cat at Beacon, and Rby Rose being the most naive, passionate, and adorable future huntsman you've ever seen. I'd also like to state R(uby)63 Rose is kind of a "warm up" fic for me. I've been away from fanfiction for awhile so I'm using the pretty simple concept of this story to get used to this whole "writing" thing again. I'm going to do my best to stabilize both the size and frequency of uploads of the chapters of this here story. Ideally, I'd like to hit around 5k words a chapter and update twice a week. So we'll see if that pans out.

I have some more ambitious and well made stories in the works and I look forward to sharing those with you guys sometime soon!

Thanks for taking the time to read my little story and my boring author's note! Have a great day and ciao!

P.S. Just noticed that .rtf files have not been keeping my line breaks to differentiate POV shifts. Very sorry about that, but they should all be fixed now!


	5. Chapter 5: Breakfast at Beacon

Weiss didn't like standing in lines. Few people did, she imagined. But at least they had some amount of experience with them; Weiss was fairly certain this was the first time she had ever stood in a public line. Back in Atlas she had stood in what could be called lines to be introduced at balls or galas, or had stood behind her father to pay condolences to the families of important persons at funerals, but she had never in her life stood in line for food.

The girl in front of her was chatting incessantly with some other girl, their volume entirely too loud for how close they were and how early it was. The guy behind her was ten times worse, however. Jaune Arc had her quickly reevaluating her understanding of how annoying the opposite gender could be. Ruby was hyper, a little awkward, and cut-, no! Not cute, he's annoying, remember that Weiss. Jaune Arc, on the other hand, was everything wrong with every suitor she'd ever had back in Atlas, except dressed worse. He was arrogant, stupid, and clearly incapable of detecting her disinterest, "So, uh, how you liking Beacon Snow Angel?"

What did he just call me? "What did you just call me?"

"Uh, S-Snow Angel?" At least he had the presence of mind to cringe at the glare she sent after him for such a childish and demeaning pet name.

"If you ever call me that again, Arc, I promise you they will never find your body." That was probably a bit colder, and more threatening, than the boy deserved, but she was hungry, sick of waiting in this glacial line, and he'd been hitting on her for nearly ten minutes straight. Honestly, he was lucking she hadn't turned him into a pin cushion for Myrtenaster yet.

"O-oh, uhm, sorry." The blond idiot scratched the back of his neck and stared at his shoes and left her in peace for the next couple of minutes it took the line to convey her to the serving station. She'd been planning on a couple of blueberry crepes with a dollop of cream cheese and a bowl of mixed berries, but apparently that was far too much to ask and her choices were either a bowl of cold, sugary cereal and an orange, or a piece of toast and a couple of fried eggs. Weiss sighed and reluctantly took a bowl of cereal and an orange. How much is this school's endowment again?

Behind her she heard the idiot Arc pick up his plate. She had absolutely no desire to continue her "conversation" with the boy and so felt this strange combination of relief and resigned frustration when she spotted Ruby across the cafeteria waving her over. She approached the table Ruby and Yang were sat at and started to feel rather foolish when she noticed they both had bags containing muffins, fruits, and color-coordinated thermoses. Yellow and gold with coffee for Yang and red and black with hot chocolate for Ruby, according to Weiss' nose. She sat down across from Ruby and through a monumental effort of willpower managed not to stare straight down into her cold, soggy cereal and pout like a child.

"Hey Weiss!" Ruby greeted with far too much cheer and energy for her mood. He looked over at her with his big, stupid silver eyes and almost made her forget about her abysmal breakfast situation; right before he took a giant bite out of a chocolate chip cookie that had no right to look as freshly baked as it did. She glanced over to Yang, finding the blond talking rather animatedly with a group of students a few seats down the table from her. One more glance back to Ruby, who was happily munching away on a variety of homemade delectables, very happily actually, Weiss was pretty certain she'd never seen anyone look so thrilled while eating, and she looked back down to her cold, soggy cereal and, with a small, resigned sigh, ate a spoonful of it.

It was bad. Not inedible, not sickening, just bland, soggy flakes of cheap cereal in what might actually have been watered-down milk. It was, however, the worst thing Weiss had ever eaten. Well, besides that one time she'd gotten so sick from bad Mistralian sushi she'd been briefly hospitalized. At least in that instance the restaurant had nearly gone out of business from the bad publicity and army of food inspectors that descended upon it after accidentally poisoning her. She somehow doubted she'd acquire the same measure of revenge against the Beacon Academy cafeteria.

Looking around once more she found that most of her fellow students had brought their own food. Maybe it's part of the initiation, poison the students foolish enough to trust the food given to them. It was a half-amusing idea to ponder as she forced the next spoonful of cereal down her throat. As much as she'd love to turn her nose up at the food, she knew she'd need the energy for whatever task lay ahead.

About half way through the bowl she'd decided that she'd had about all she cared for. Even Klein couldn't have convinced her to eat anymore, not that he'd even try. No doubt he'd make something fresh and delicious just for her and gently keep her at the table until she'd eaten all of it, he was always going on about how she was too thin.

"You okay Weiss?" She looked up from absentmindedly staring into the bowl of cereal to find Ruby staring at her with concern in his sterling eyes, and a half eaten chocolate chip cookie in his hand.

"I'm fine. Merely unimpressed with the fare." She huffed.

Ruby tilted his head in confusion, idly taking another bite of his cookie, "What's fair?"

Weiss blinked, then sighed into her hand, cradling her face, "Oh you have got to be kidding me… The food you imbecile!" She motioned to it, exasperated.

"Oh. Yeah it does look pretty bad." He agreed before finishing his cookie gusto. Weiss tore her gaze away from the boy and settled back to stare at her reflection in the soggy bowl of cereal. Abruptly, her vision was invaded by the sight of a brown blob. Instinctively leaning back from the object, she found the added distance allowed it to come into focus and be revealed. Before her, outstretched in Ruby's hand, sat a chocolate chip cookie. Common fare, if ever there was. It was a far cry from the professionally made crepes, tiramisu, and other pastries she was use to, and it was the most delectable looking thing she'd ever seen. "Want a cookie? I think I have some fruit somewhere too." He said as forced the cookie into Weiss' nearly paralyzed arms.

The smell, oh by the Moon, how can a chocolate chip cookie smell so good? It was beyond unseemly for her to be so captivated by the treat, yet she couldn't help that the world seemed to enter slow motion as she brought it to her lips. The first bite almost killed her. It was like eating for the first time. She barely noticed the plastic bag of sliced fruits that Ruby handed her, or the thermos cap of coffee he stole from Yang that was pushed her way. When the last of the cookie was consumed she met Ruby's elated countenance with her own desperate one. She had to have another one of those cookies. "Ruby, I, that was-"

Ruby handed over another cookie with a winsome, toothy smile, "Here you go Weiss! No one can eat just one of Summer Rose's, that's my mom, cookies!"

Weiss managed to control herself enough to not immediately devour the cookie whole, I'll not be defeated by a bit of fried dough! No matter how sublime it might taste, and favored her pastry patron with a sheepish smile, "Thank you, Ruby."

Ruby nodded happily, and, through a mouthful of cookie, replied, "Yeur welckmum!"

* * *

Blake Belladonna surveyed the cafeteria casually, looking for all the world like the bookish introvert she planned to portray herself as. And, she had to admit, that's kind of what she was, at least partially. She was settled comfortably in a quiet corner of the room, a small table all to herself and a quick escape through the unlocked kitchen door, if needed. A purchased latte and cheap romance novel fit right into her new persona, and when she took a small moment to focus on them she found she was enjoying them herself. The field rations she'd brought with her after defecting weren't exactly delicacies, but they were nourishing, and she wasn't prepared to trust what was served at Beacon. Plus, the bitter, salty aftertaste hit just the right note with her more primal nature.

Her fellow first-year hopefuls were interesting. Somewhere north of a hundred colorfully dressed young warriors. It made her nervous seeing all these trained humans in one place, despite the handful of obvious faunus that dwelt, with varying levels of acceptance, among them. She'd encountered huntsmen before, of course, not to mention that all the top White Fang agents, and former agents, like herself, where given what was essentially the same training. But it was very different to encounter a handful of them in the middle of their own mission in the wilderness as opposed to a hundred eager, idle ones no doubt itching for a fight. Not to say that she wasn't looking forward to some action herself, quite the opposite actually. It was going to be nice to vent her fear and guilt on some unequivocally deserving foes.

There was no doubt she'd be able to pass whatever initiation Ozpin and his staff had planned. Presumably, the entrance exam was more challenging and that had practically been a warm-up. It might have been too easy if the reaction of her proctor had been any indication. She had to consciously avoid cringing at the memory, more than likely she was now at the attention of Ozpin or his right hand Glynda Goodwitch. Hopefully merely as a gifted student and not a potential affiliate of the White Fang. What if someone finds out? If I can't be a huntress, what's next? The thought had haunted her since she decided to leave the Fang, and no good answer had come to her. She could always run back home to Menagerie, but what then?

She sighed and closed her book, It's not worth worrying about right now anyway. I haven't been found out. I'm safe. I can make things right. I can make things right. It was easier to think than to believe.

Still, skipping past initiation, she was going to have to deal with a team of three other students for potentially up to four years. That would be tricky. Certainly it would be impossible to hide her faunus nature for that long, but the White Fang affiliation should be possible to conceal from them, probably. What am I doing? This is crazy. She made to sip her latte but found it empty, how long had she been sitting here, lost in memory and doubt? Long enough to run out of caffeine, she snorted.

Going stir crazy would have to wait for another day, however, as the voice of Glynda Goodwitch came over the intercom and instructed all first-years to assemble at the cliffs for initiation. As she made to leave, Blake was surprised to discover the cafeteria mostly devoid of students. No doubt the majority had gone to retrieve their weapons from the lockers they'd all been assigned the night before. Blake would sooner cut off her ears, all four of them, than go without Gambol Shroud in this place.

Maybe things won't be so bad. There are good humans out there, and if there ever was a good human surely they'd be a huntsman. Blake Belladonna, the huntress. She smiled, it did sound pretty good. Who knows, maybe I'll even make a friend? It didn't seem likely, but she'd been fighting the odds for as long as she could remember. Why start accepting reality now?

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Author's Notes: Long time no see everyone. This is a short update that finished up a scrap of a scene that was languishing on a forgotten flash drive for like a year. More regular, and beefier, updates should follow in the coming days and weeks. Along with, potentially, a new story(ies).

Ciao.


	6. Chapter 6: Strut Your Stuff

Ruby was practically vibrating. Not exactly an uncommon state for him, Yang would admit, but he was really excited right now. He was so excited, in fact, that he wasn't even talking. Normally, when even the most mildly interesting thing occurred Ruby would be all over it, talking nonstop. It was easily her brother's most annoying trait, as more than a few aura-fueled sibling fights over the years proved. Yang thought she was a pretty expressive and easygoing person, but even she wanted peace and quiet sometimes. Ruby, however, was only quiet when he was focused. That level of focus from him was reserved for sweets, mourning, and anything and everything related to fighting and becoming a huntsman. Initiation into the first-year class at Beacon definitely ticked one of those boxes. Thus, he was spending the entire walk to the cliffs obsessing over Crescent Rose, oiling it endlessly and testing every mechanism in it. How he managed to do that and avoid tripping over himself Yang doubted she would ever know.

Weiss, who, for reasons beyond Yang's comprehension, had apparently (maybe?) become Ruby's first friend at Beacon followed not far behind him. As opposed to Ruby, who was hunched over his weapon, Weiss walked confidently and gracefully, greeting everyone around her who looked even remotely competent or connected. Yang had known a few people like her before, schmoozers and users. The kind who seemed like the most caring friend in the world until you didn't have anything more to offer them. This scion of the infamous Schnee family, not at all to Yang's surprise, was the exemplar of this type of person as far as she could tell. She didn't trust her at all. But she could wait to deal with Weiss until after the initiation, assuming Weiss passed it.

Yang herself was almost shivering with anticipation. Years of training, long, weary nights under Summer's relentless tutelage, grueling days of endless exercise and sparring at Signal, humiliation and elation, failure and triumph, almost every day of her life that she could remember had been spent preparing her for Beacon, and now just one final obstacle remained. Anything that got in her way today was going to meet a quick and violent fate at the end of Ember Celica.

Today was going to be a good day.

* * *

Today was the greatest day in history, Ruby was sure.

Today would put him on the final stretch to being a huntsman. Today would open wide his destiny. It was his destiny.

Everything in his path was going to feed Crescent Rose, and Ruby felt she was almost feral with hunger today.

Yang was her usual, cocky self, all swagger and strut. Sometimes Ruby was convinced there wasn't a serious bone in her body, but he knew that deep down she was probably as nervous as him. At any rate, he would bet she was just as eager to sink her fists into some Grimm as he was to loose Crescent Rose on them. It ran in the family. Weiss seemed pretty happy, too. She hadn't even scowled at him once since he shared breakfast with her!

Weiss certainly wasn't who Ruby had envisioned to be his first friend at Beacon, not least because she was, well, Weiss Schnee, famous, talented, wealthy, and not someone Ruby had ever envisioned as a huntress. Admittedly, Ruby only had a casual appreciation for her music and had known almost nothing about her personally until he literally ran into her the day before. Still, heiress and music idol seemed like a fairly rare resume for huntsman academy students. It's really frickin' cool though! I bet Weiss is an awesome fighter. I wonder if she'll want to be on a team with me? Of course she will! If only to get more of Mom's cookies! Ruby snickered to himself, he could definitely assemble a team with the promise of Summer Rose's cookies.

A sudden impact with his sister's back had Ruby realize they had reached the cliffs. Professors Ozpin and Glynda were both there and instructed Ruby and his fellow first-years to assemble on the launchpads. They didn't return his wave, but he heard Weiss mutter something about him. Probably appreciating my friendliness! Ruby imagined.

The rules of the initiation procedure were explained to them, and Ruby couldn't quite hide his surprise at the revelation that eye contact would determine his partner for at least the next four years. There was probably some logic to that method, maybe, but Ruby found his gaze drifting to Yang. He'd have to keep a very close eye on her trajectory if he wanted a chance to partner with her.

Weiss had wanted to partner with Pyrrha Nikos in the locker room, and Ruby couldn't blame her. Pyrrha would definitely be Ruby's third choice of partner after Yang and Weiss. She was a legend of the Mistral tournament scene, even Summer Rose had commented on her skill when Ruby finally pestered her enough to watch some tournaments with him. But maybe Weiss would end up with that blond guy instead, they seemed like they were having a good time together in the locker room.

A jab in the shoulder from Yang brought Ruby out of his partner worries. She grinned, threw on a pair of aviators that Ruby had told her many times before he thought made her look ridiculous, and then she was thrown into the air, hooting her excitement. Ruby just shook his head, Yang is such a showoff, and then he fell into a ready stance.

A second later air was rushing past his ears and the ground was rapidly shrinking beneath him. Shouts and screams came from the multitude of students around him. Some merely expressions of enjoyment, others vainly attempting to communicate with someone else. Yang, Ruby was distressed to discover, was accelerating far ahead of the rest of the pack by using blasts from Ember Celica to propel herself. Does Yang really not want to partner with me? And she's going to get totally lost out there! Ugh, she is so reckless!

Ruby felt his speed decreasing rapidly as he neared the apex of his arc. He looked around desperately for Weiss, but just as he spotted her his cloak fell over his face and obstructed his vision. He gasped, surprised, and managed to inhale some of the dust-infused garment. It tasted like pepper, frustration, and Yang laughing at him. Spluttering, he started tumbling out of control, vision still mostly obstructed by his cloak. He tried to get his arms up and around the top cloak to hold it down but somehow managed to get them tangled up as well, including getting one of his arms stuck through his shirt's collar and jammed uncomfortably against his face. This never happens to mom! Curse your sudden, but inevitable, betrayal cloak! Certain that nothing worse could happen before he impacted the forest, Ruby was figuratively slapped in the face with a fish by fate as he literally impacted a crow mid-flight. The black bird croaked distressingly as it too became entangled in Ruby Rose's flying circus.

More than fed up enough with his situation, and not at all enjoying the crow frantically pecking his abdomen, Ruby uttered a manly roar, that may or may not have put the shrillness of the crow's caws to shame, and exploded into a dense cloud of rose petals. Immediately, he felt refreshed and focused, his personal concerns and conflicts melting away to a pure view of the world, ballistics. For a serene moment all that existed was his trajectory and the comfort of high speed with purpose.

The trajectory he was on suited him, and he willed his body back to cohesion. The crow's calls could be heard receding above him as he hurtled toward the forest canopy. He focused on his heartbeat, focused his aura on Crescent Rose, and precisely one second before impact pulled her around from his back, deployed her, and caught a tree branch with her. Two full rotations killed most of his speed and he retracted the head of Crescent Rose to allow him to fall the rest of the way to the ground, rose petals trailing behind him as the tree branch snapped off. The landing was a little harder than he'd wanted it, but the sting of the sixty-foot drop was barely a mild ache thanks to his aura.

He flourished Crescent with a couple of tight spins in preparation to holster her. A growl from behind had him stop mid-spin, Crescent Rose pointed straight down. Ruby smirked. The growl had the gravelly, canine yip of a Beowolf. He heard only one, but Beowolves never traveled alone, there was certainly at least one more. He waited for two heartbeats, the Grimm growled again, and then Ruby shot Crescent Rose, propelling him a dozen feet in the air as the Beowolf's claws hit only rose petals and air. A half spin of Crescent Rose, another shot, and Ruby was impaling the creature's neck with the spike on the bottom of Crescent Rose's shaft. The Grimm managed a short yelp before it was decapitated.

Two terse barks from his left and he brought Crescent Rose up to hold it like a rifle, a single bullet eviscerated the Beowolf's head. Ruby used the recoil to spin around with a flurry of Crescent Rose and fell into a ready stance with Crescent Rose held behind him eager to slash and tear. Something scratched the bark of a branch above him and not half a second later Crescent Rose cut through the space above him. A shower of leaves and cleanly sliced branches rained around him as two halves of a Beowolf landed on either side of him.

He waited. For five heartbeats. Ten heartbeats.

Twenty heartbeats.

Forty.

Eighty.

Finally, he sighed, flourished Crescent Rose, sheathed her with a "job well done" pat, and stretched. I so needed that. He thought to himself as he walked away from the ten second battlefield. He had an idea of where Weiss had landed and whistled as he made his way towards her, repacking his magazine as he went.

* * *

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Author's Notes: Well this chapter took longer than I wanted it to, and it's not quite as long as I wanted it to be, but I figured better a little now than not much more a fair bit later. As you can see from this chapter I'm not going to be mindlessly retreading the exact plot of the show, and expect the next handful of chapters to concern the Emerald Forest initiation. Plus, more action! Yay!

Moving on, if any of you have more money than sense and want to help me eat, I have a P atreon (very original, I know) which you can find here: h themagichobo (just remove the spaces)

And a twitter where you can follow me (if I ever update it!) here: /TheMagicHoboTMH

As always, please leave any thoughts, comments, criticisms, and/or concerns in the reviews! Love you all!


	7. Chapter 7: One Plus One

Weiss wasn't entirely sure where she was. To be entirely honest, she was completely lost. She knew, vaguely, what direction the Beacon cliffs were in and thanks to the late morning Sun she had a rough idea of the location of the cardinal directions, but that's all she knew. It didn't help her situation that this was the first time in her life she'd been in a forest. There was so much green and brown around her it was almost sickening, not to mention the earthy smells of what she could only assume were decaying plants, the squelch of the forest floor as she walked, the copious mud that, despite her best attempts to avoid it, was starting to coat her boots, and the relentless buzz of all manner of insects that made even Ruby's restless chatter desirable, it was all Weiss could do not to load Myrtenaster with fire Dust and burn the whole forest down!

I never would have thought it possible I would miss the frostbitten snowfields and bleak mountains of home so much, but here I am. Forests always looked so much more peaceful and clean on the postcards. Weiss lamented her alien surroundings as she forged on, tiptoeing around the ickiest terrain and utilizing Myrtenaster as an extremely overqualified machete to cut away hanging vines and moss, and to occasionally vent her frustrations on errant tree branches. Some ten minutes of this and Weiss was seriously considering that refusing Atlas Academy to study at Beacon was the worst decision of her life.

That's when an Ursa exploded through the forest beside her and landed almost on top of her in a shower of splinters and vaporizing Grimm matter. Her Aura flared automatically and effortlessly repelled the debris. Before the abomination had even hit the ground Weiss had already determined it was dead, so obviously mangled and savagely perforated it was. Her attention immediately turned to the swathe of destruction that the corpse had cut through the forest, several hundred feet of disintegrated forest filled with settling splinters. The sounds of combat reached her ears, a single human, female, against at least one Ursa by the sounds of it, she quickly surmised, and then she was sprinting towards the fight with the aid of a glyph. The three hundred feet of the path was traversed in four seconds.

There, Weiss found a large clearing and a familiar blond brawler removing her fist from the eviscerated back of the second Ursa. The victorious huntress was wreathed in flames about her hair and shoulders and her head snapped up to fix Weiss with hard red eyes.

They greeted each other in unison,

"Oh, not you!"

* * *

Blake found the Emerald Forest oddly pleasant. Having spent the last couple of weeks in the human city of Vale, it felt good to have some space to herself. Not to mention the constant fear of discovery as a former agent of the White Fang was significantly eased now that she wasn't surrounded by hundreds of human huntsmen in training. She knew she was still being constantly surveilled, obviously. You didn't survive in the shadows for as long as Blake had without an aura finely tuned to detect when you were being watched. Not to mention, Professor Ozpin had to have some way of making sure the initiates obeyed the rules of the initiation. Knowing that, Blake certainly didn't have her guard down. Plus, the whole deadly Grimm filled forest thing. When I think about it that way, the fact that being alone, and more or less lost, in a monster filled forest while under constant surveillance by people who would certainly imprison, or even kill, me should my past be discovered is the circumstance in which I've been most relaxed in weeks, well, that pretty much speaks for itself. Blake mused as she skipped easily across the branches of the forest's upper canopy.

She was making good speed, which made sense considering how much of her life had involved moving through forests. Her toned physique, powerful aura, and feline instincts and balance made the thick branches as easy to maneuver as a paved street. Right now her plan was to make her way to the small stream she thought she'd spotted from the air. Her goal was to make it to the abandoned temple, and she thought it stood to reason that a temple would be built in proximity to a water source. If that idea didn't pan out, she could always double back to the cliffs and wait for students who'd gotten their chess piece to come through. Then, she could retrace their path to the temple, grab a piece, and wait around for some unpaired to student to show up. Though the initiation itself was rather odd, especially the eye contact rule, Blake had no doubt she'd pass it easily. Few of her fellow hopefuls had her tracking experience and fleet-footedness, she imagined.

Up ahead she spotted a Nevermore perched, back turned to her, in the branches, a hundred meters out. It was about her size, with its wings folded at least. Most importantly, it hadn't noticed her yet. Blake weighed her options. Nevermores often traveled and hunted by themselves, when they reached a certain age and size. This particular Nevermore seemed large enough to be by itself, but if she was wrong? One Nevermore this size was nothing approaching a challenge to Blake, however, a dozen was a different story. Going around would waste precious time and risked her losing her way, however small that risk was. I'm going to have to fight out her eventually, at least here I can start the fight on my terms. Her course decided, she gingerly removed Gambol Shroud from its sheath on her back and snapped it into its dedicated pistol mode. The Nevermore had just enough time to hear the sound and cock its head in confusion before it was struck by the Dust bullet. The monster's neck exploded in a cloud of black while its limp body fell silently from its perch, the head went spinning vertically into the air, disappearing into the thick leaves above.

Blake held absolutely still, eyes scanning for any indication of retaliation and ears straining for the heavy sound of a Nevermore's wings beating the air. Her aura was somewhat thrown off by the fact she was being spied on, but not by her enemies, current enemies at any rate. She would later wonder if part of the test was being able to use aura to detect enemies while it was constantly being distracted by observers. Seventeen beats of her heart had passed since the shot when she sensed a Nevermore swooping towards her back. She rolled across the thick branch she was stood on to steady herself against the tree's trunk as she snapped Gambol Shroud into its katana form and held it out where she had been standing. No sooner had she done so than the Nevermore, screeching in the last moment of its attack, was silenced and sliced cleanly in two. Blake grunted with the impact, but the sharpness of Gambol Shroud, both physical and aural, cut through the mass of Grimm and diverted its velocity easily enough to keep her in place.

Three heartbeats later, she just managed to crouch beneath a swipe of talons from the branch above her. She sprung back up with Gambol Shroud's sheath held in her offhand and caught the retreating claw of the Nevermore with the sharp edge, pinning it against the trunk and severing it crudely. She sensed another one clawing its way up from behind her and jumped to the branch in front of her as her previous perch was destroyed with a savage bite and a flurry of frustrated caws. The Nevermore above her whose left claw she had destroyed threw itself at her in more of a tackle than a dive as she heard yet another one caw and drop into an attack dive in front of her. She spun with grace and precision the envy of the greatest ballerina and immediately released two shots at the one-clawed Nevermore, barely three meters from her and closing rapidly. She activated her semblance and disappeared just as the second shot left Gambol Shroud's barrel. Both shots landed between the Nevermore's eyes and its lifeless body impacted branch Blake had been standing on with a violent thud. The other Nevermore who had been diving towards her could only caw in confusion as its beak impaled its broodmate. That second impact broke the branch and the living Nevermore was sent tumbling with its fellow's corpse.

Blake reappeared above the Nevermore responsible for her first destroyed perch. Falling, she released a quick shot into the top of the creature's skull and then drove the blade of Gambol Shroud into the tree to prevent a sudden reunion with the ground. As she did so, she brought the sharp sheath in her offhand down in a long arc to behead the probably dead Nevermore beneath her. She kicked her legs off the trunk for extra momentum and wound up perpendicular with the tree as the sheath forced the Nevermore's neck against the trunk and ripped through it with a reverberating crack, and the sheath cut deep into the tree. The definitely dead Nevermore's corpse hit several branches with wet squelches on its way to the ground.

Now she was suspended in a cross formation perpendicular to the tree, one arm above her with Gambol Shroud speared into the tree, one arm below her with the sheath cut deep into the tree, and both her legs held out away from the trunk. She quickly got her legs beneath her, contorting her body in a way that would probably break a normal person's back and which even caused her a bit of pain. She pushed with a level of lower body strength totally impossible without aura, and rocketed off the tree, leaving it vibrating like a tuning fork. Twisting in midair, she got oriented feet-first in her direction of travel, and hit the trunk of a nearby tree with enough force to shatter a regular person's kneecaps but which her aura absorbed entirely. An easy push off the trunk and she somersaulted into a ready posture onto another tree limb. She surveyed the area with quick glances as she idly reloaded Gambol Shroud with a fresh magazine.

She spotted another three Nevermores diving towards her and raised Gambol Shroud towards them, but just before she pulled the trigger she heard a gunshot and then a very human shout from below. A split-second later a vortex of rose petals raced past her, and her eyes struggled to move fast enough to track the floral oddity. When it reached the trio of Nevermores, who had just started to crane their heads to track the roses, the petals shifted and solidified into a human figure wielding a massive mechanical scythe. Of course, that makes sense. Blake thought, as she watched the person, a girl, I think? spear the first Nevermore with the bottom of her scythe, twirl the scythe rapidly to bisect the next one, incidentally flinging the first's corpse off the scythe and towards the horizon, and then shoot the final Nevermore with her apparent gun-scythe. The three foes dealt with in the span of a little over two seconds, Blake watched the girl spin her scythe around her, fire another shot, and then her vision was dominated by a thousand rose petals.

A moment later the face of the girl(? I'm not so sure anymore, maybe she's a tomboy?) resolved before Blake. She/he was smiling broadly and had his/her hand beside her/him, waving enthusiastically, "Hi! I saw you fighting, or, well, part of your fight, and you were frickin' crazy badass! You were cutting heads off like snap, crack, pop! And then those three Nevermores were coming in so I thought, 'Ruby, you can totally destroy those Nevermores and make a kickass introduction to your partner.' And then I did it and now we're, um here, and we're partners?" The kid's hyper-friendly demeanor started to fall apart as he saw the pure confusion that Blake knew she was exuding. Looking nervous, he(? Sounds like a boy, I think? Blake still wasn't sure) continued, "U-unless you already have a partner! I mean if you do then you're not my partner, I think, not that I-I don't want you to my, to be, I mean, I-uh-um…" He sputtered, looking absolutely crestfallen, and hung his head. Blake was about to speak when the kid raised his head; he cleared his throat and put on a polite, if clearly strained, smile. He offered her his hand to shake and said in a soft, genuine voice, "Um, I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose."

Blake just stared at him for a long moment, trying to decide if her partner was better or far, far worse than she imagined he'd be, then, being so distracted and off-guard, committed the greatest faux pas of her life to that point, "You're a guy, right?"


	8. Chapter 8: Rocky Relationships

Sometimes life gives you lemons, and sometimes senile headmasters give you Weiss Schnee. Yang was confident she knew which one was the more bitter gift. At least you can sweeten a lemon, make lemonade. If I covered Weiss in sugar no one would even be able to tell! She complained internally. She was trying to look on the brighter side. On the plus side, the morning's breakfast had been delicious, courtesy of Summer Rose, and she got to beat the shit out of a couple of Ursas. On the con side, she'd gotten saddled with an arrogant, stuck-up, narcissistic, bad-tempered, manipulative, spoiled, rude, and seemingly incompetent bitch for the next four years/until she had her fill and decided to deep throat Ember Celica. Or until I give the pleasure to White-out. Yang snorted derisively as Weiss stopped for the umpteenth time, looked around confidently, and led them in an entirely new direction to get lost.

Yang hadn't planned on letting the fifty pound sack of prissy privilege lead her around endlessly, but after the thirty second argument that had been their only conversation in the forest so far she'd decided just to play along with Weiss' ego until she admitted she had no idea what she was doing. Absent that epiphany of humility, which Yang had no inclination of holding her breath for, she was using her own mental map of the forest (flying above the forest with blasts of Ember Celica did have some purpose beyond just looking fucking cool) to plot out a path that should lead to someplace around the temple, and she'd knock Weiss unconscious and carry her there if she had to. Y'know, now that I think about it, knocking Weiss out has a lot of pros and no cons. I get to punch something, I get to punch Weiss, I don't have to listen to Weiss, I don't have to worry about Weiss not being able to fight, and what can she actually weigh? Ninety pounds? I could lift her with a finger. But Ruby wouldn't like it, what a pain. I knew I should have been the one to give him "the talk," I could have given the little budding flower some practical advice on what to look for in a woman. Mom probably just told him to, "follow his heart," or someth-

Her train of thought was derailed by a sudden impact with Weiss, whose ill-advised sudden halt now found her swiftly falling face-first toward the thick gunk of the forest floor, screaming like a dying cat. She may have been able to catch herself and regain her balance had she been wearing footwear with more traction, but as it was she was certainly doomed. Yang, on instinct, had immediately moved to catch her falling ally, but halfway to Weiss' shoulder an evil thought entered her mind. Smiling like a loon, Yang took a firm grip on Weiss' off-center ponytail near its base and yanked it back with all the care she might have thrown away an apple core with. Weiss let loose a shrill shriek before she took control of herself and exclaimed, "What are you do-woah!" and was cut off when her back impacted what she first took for a length of steel rebar but quickly realized was Yang's left arm, the same arm which had saved her/nearly torn off her head.

For her part, Yang had somewhat overestimated the level of force she'd needed to use on Weiss, and so, to prevent the annoying white-haired princess flying backwards into the ground, she had simply used her arm as a wall to absorb Weiss' momentum. Smug as the devil and radiating self-satisfaction Yang supplied an answer to Weiss, "I believe I just saved your multi-million lien face, White-out. Do be more cognizant of your surroundings, hmm?" Yang looked over to Weiss, expecting to see her fuming and flabbergasted that Yang knew what cognizant meant, but instead found the heiress swiftly turning from her and stepping away with an imperious huff. But not before Yang caught sight of the few tears that ran down the petite girl's wincing face.

Her moment of selfish victory shattered like glass and cut into her heart, and suddenly Yang found herself feeling like the most terrible monster in the world. Weiss continued on without a word and Yang followed suit. But now, instead of belittling Weiss in her mind, Yang observed her closely, but reluctantly. She saw the slightly too fast rise and fall of her shoulders which indicated hurried breaths from pain or fear. She saw the hands that, with forced casualness, went up to the face for a brief moment and then returned to the sides with a hint of moisture that Yang knew wasn't sweat. She saw, past the high collar of the dress, flashes of red skin around her hair and knew that in a couple of minutes aura would replace them with the flawless of ivory skin that had been there before, and she also knew that without aura that red would darken to more sickening colors and persist for days. I didn't pull her hair that hard, did I?

It was then that Yang considered just why it was she had felt such intense scorn for Weiss. We got off on the wrong foot to start with, and her stuffy, arrogant attitude didn't help any, but between my own hostility and Ruby's Ruby-ness I know we couldn't have been the easiest people to get along with. She also reminds me of some very poor "friends" I've had. And maybe, just maybe, I felt a little threatened by the way Ruby was starting to cling to her. So, to summarize, we got started wrong, I made no attempts to get to know her or even engage her at all, and I may have subconsciously been jealous of her. And then I go and nearly rip her head off and rub it in her face. In her mind Yang saw the tears of pain and the grimace that had existed on Weiss' face, but now they were on a younger Ruby's face, he was looking up at her, eyes wide in fear and confusion, a bright red welt growing on his cheek, a strand of golden hair clutched loosely in his hand, and Yang, feeling so repulsed by herself that she feared she might vomit, came to a sudden epiphany on Weiss.

She's just like Ruby. Not just physically, though they were both of similar build and nearly identical height, and they both had a nearly ethereal grace to their movements so that you felt they might just float away with every step they took, and, yes, they both had such clear, expressive eyes that always betrayed their feelings no matter what they might manipulate their countenance and body into portraying. More than all of that was the way they talked, the way they interacted with people, wrongly and at odd angles. Always stiff and lifeless when they were pretending but overwhelmingly emotive when they weren't. She'd only known Weiss for about twenty-four hours but thinking back on her many passing conversations with other students it was obvious that Weiss was pretending. She had realized it then, of course, but she hadn't grasped its true significance. Is that why Ruby was drawn to her? Because he sensed in her a kindred soul? It seemed very possible. Yang had no way of knowing just why it was that Weiss acted the way she did, but considering her background she could make a pretty good guess. Atlas had always seemed like a cold and harsh place to Yang, what must it be like for someone like Weiss? Born into incredible expectations and demands? Had she ever really talked to someone? Had she ever even had a friend? Surely she must have, but then, why leave Atlas? Why come, alone, to a foreign country and leave behind all the wealth and privilege she'd always known? Yang had to imagine it was for more than just a change in scenery.

She considered apologizing right then and there, but decided against it. Weiss was plainly proud, if not outright haughtily arrogant, and had clearly attempted to avoid Yang realizing that the incident had caused her anything more than routine annoyance, thus it was unlikely that Weiss would be willing to engage in some genuine heartfelt confession with her erstwhile assaulter while lost in the middle of Grimm territory.

Speaking of Grimm. Yang felt a malicious gaze on her and immediately rolled at a right angle to the direction she sensed it from; the action saved her from a nasty strike as a Beowolf came slashing savagely at the space she had just occupied. Ember Celica was done expanding by the time she recovered from her roll and she immediately used it to send her fist rocketing toward the confused Grimm. She was rewarded with the indescribably satisfying feeling of ripping through the Grimm's head with her bare hands. Said head, along with most of the hapless creature's neck, was instantly vaporized and the corpse was sent flying, Yang noticed it break through several trees with wet squelches before she turned her attention away from it.

A dozen meters away Weiss was engaged with a few Beowolves and Yang took a moment to appreciate the girl's seamless use of her semblance with her dexterous swordplay. Huh, I guess White-out can fight, go figure. Yang turned away to face her own pack of Beowolves she had felt gathering around her. They were scurrying around her, some positioning to her flanks to attack from her blind-spots while others would take her attention in the front, the typical, ancient hunting practice of the animals that inspired their name. With all the negative emotions Weiss and I were giving off, I'm surprised it took this long. Yang cracked her neck, smiled, and closed her eyes. I do feel like a monster. She felt the first Beowolf leap at her and her fist was through its abdomen. The eviscerated monster went flailing away through the air and Yang turned to meet the gaze of the next one. Its bloodthirsty, red gaze was met with her own.

I am a monster. And she lost herself to the pleasure of battle.

* * *

"…"

The silence stretched on, the wind blew.

"…"

The silence went on, a faraway bird chirp happily.

"…"

The silence continued, Blake coughed uncomfortably. "It's just, um, I thought you were graceful like a woman?" Blake had never been in a position quite like this one.

"…" Ruby continued to study his boots.

They had been like this for a good five minutes, and Blake was starting to wonder if she had already damaged her relationship with her partner beyond repair. He hadn't said a single thing since her faux pas, unless one could count the strangled and animalistic noise of despair he'd made upon hearing her initial question. "…A-anyway, you were very impressive. I applaud your skill as a warrior?" She hadn't intended the last part to sound like a question, something she could say for most of her attempts to lift the boy's spirits, but she was just at such a loss!

Her praise for his martial prowess seemed to at least get through to Ruby as he lifted his head ever so slightly and quit nervously digging the tip of his boot into the branch they were both stood on. "…"

Buoyed by this apparent progress, and never one to squander opportunity, Blake continued, "I'm certain that between us we'll have no trouble completely the initiation. So let's, uh, press on, um, partner?" Gods, what am I saying? I couldn't sound more insincere, and I'm not even lying! What's wrong with me? I didn't know I was so bad at talking to kids. There's no way this is goi-

"…p-partner…" Ruby whispered, looking up to meet Blake's desperate eyes with his own dead gaze. After a few seconds of uncomfortable eye contact a little life seemed to enter Ruby's eyes. Then, without warning, he turned on his heels, sighed deeply, rubbed fiercely at his eyes, proceeded to stretch while muttering something, and turned back to the befuddled Blake, all smiles and bright eyes, "Hi! I'm Ruby Rose, nice to meet you, partner!" He offered his hand with a genuine, warm smile and unreadable silver eyes.

Blake, bewildered and bewitched, accepted the handshake this time around and, falling back on her taciturn nature, said simply, "Blake Belladonna."

Ruby's grinned widened a bit and he gave her hand a single, soft shake before releasing it. The silence returned, it was still awkward, but at least not totally oppressive, and Blake was starting to get a grasp on what she felt about her partner and their first encounter up to this point, she didn't dislike and that was more than enough for now. We need to get moving. I didn't want to complete initiation too quickly and draw attention, but if I'm one of the last to pass that will draw its own kind of attention as well. Not to mention, there's simply no telling what kind of attention I'll receive and situations I'll wind up with Ruby as my partner. Am I really going to be with this boy for four years? At least he can fight… Blake suppressed a world weary sigh. "We should get moving. I can lead the way." She looked to Ruby, still smiling, and he nodded his assent. "You might have some difficulty following me, let me know if you need me to slow down."

At that, Ruby's smile turned wry, "Don't worry about that, Blake." It was a strange expression on the boy who she'd only seen either jubilant or emotionlessly distressed.

Blake nodded slightly and took off in the direction of the river. Between her finely tuned aura-enhanced jumps and liberal application of her semblance she was a nearly untraceable blur to the standard human eye. Her own eyes were significantly sharper and faster than even the average aura user's, but even she had a hard time keeping up with her surroundings moving at her top speed, without the aid of her aura to sense her surroundings and guide her feet she would wind up looking decidedly less like the avatar of feline grace she was now. It was that very same indispensable aura which kept her apprised of her partner following her.

He followed in short bursts of incredible speed, she estimated around an order of magnitude above what she was managing, but what he exceeded in velocity he failed in efficiency and elegance. He shot like a pinball in zig-zags and rebounds that rather distinctly disturbed the environment he went through, loud and obvious was something of an understatement for the way he was traveling. In contrast, if one failed to glimpse the flicker of shadow that Blake made dashing along the branches you would never realize she had been through, even if she went right above your head, if Ruby passed above your head you'd be lucky to escape being bowled over and dashed into a tree.

Quite the juxtaposition, he and I. I'm not certain that bodes well for how well we'll get along, but opposites attract and all that… At least there will be a little poetry to the relationship. Blake considered. She wasn't certain if she was warming up to Ruby, but she was starting to acknowledge some ways in which their relationship could be interesting and amusing if not warm and amicable.

They traveled like that for some time, through some stroke of fortune not encountering any more Grimm, Either we're moving too fast for any Grimm that have noticed us to decide to give chase and/or the rest of the hopefuls are keeping them busy, and after ten minutes they arrived at the river Blake had spotted during her descent. River was perhaps too flattering a term for the daintily gurgling stream they found, but it seemed to Blake large enough for any ancient temple builders to construct their building in convenient proximity to. Plus, maybe it had been a bit more grand back in the day?

They followed it downstream, Blake had observed it upstream from where they were now when she had spotted it from the air and felt confident there was no temple to be found around it from where it broke through the cliff face to here. It had been around two hours since initiation began, but neither of them felt tempted to drink from the fresh water. Aura could sustain their bodies for as long as it lasted and having repeatedly used it for combat and travel that day, neither of them felt the slightest bit tired or thirsty. One of the many paradoxes of an aura-user's life, the harder they fought or worked while using aura the better they'd feel, at least, until they reached that critical breaking point and the magic disappeared.

Thirty minutes into their trek along the stream and Blake was actually starting to enjoy herself. The forest was deceptively peaceful and the soft babble of the brook compounded that serenity. Ruby had been less of a handful than his introduction had intimated to her, though she suspected that was a combination of being in a combat zone and trying to avoid annoying her, and he was simply humming an oddly catchy tune as he followed behind her. They could certainly be making better time, but even at the moderate jog they were moving at Blake was confident they'd search the only reasonable stretch of stream the temple could be around in another hour and a half, thus leaving her plenty of time to implement plan B if they failed with this attempt.

She stopped, making a quick survey of the surroundings, and was about to head off to search the area as she had been doing at five intervals since they started down the river, when Ruby jogged up beside her and stopped her, "Hey, Blake, I've been thinking." He looked up to her with something like admiration and surprise.

Blake gave him her attention and cocked her head slightly.

"Isn't Blake a guy's name?"

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Author's Notes: I'm not dead! And neither is this story! Amazing, I know. Now, far be it from me to make promises I can't keep (read: I do it all the time), but I do intend to update this story more frequently, and finally get out of the damn Emerald Forest, going forward and as we enter the wondrous summer season. Also, this weekend I will be releasing my first bit of original fiction on my Wattpad (which you can find here: user/TheMagicHoboTMH) which, if you enjoy R63 Rose, you just might find entertaining!

If any of you have more money than sense and want to help me eat, I have a P atreon which you can find here: h themagichobo (just remove the space between 'h' and 'ttps')

And a twitter where you can follow me here: /TheMagicHoboTMH

As always, please leave any thoughts, comments, criticisms, and/or concerns in the reviews! Love you all!

Ciao.


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